Automobile-jack.



E. A. WILCOX.

AUTOMOBILE JACK.

APPLICATION FILEDVOCT 3, I917.

276,469,. Patented Aug. 20, 1918.

.- FIG I. F

INVENTOR ELMER Awwcox ELMER A. WILCOX, 015 LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA.

AUTOMOBILE-JACK.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 20. 1918.

Application filed October 3, 1917. Serial No. 194,569.

To all 2 :71am it may concern:

Be it known that I, ELMER A. lVILcox, a citizen of the United States,residing at Los Angeles. in the county of Los Angeles and State ofCalifornia. have invented new and useful Improvements inAutomobile-Jacks, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to an automobile jack.

When using an automobile jack to raise the axles of motor vehicles, thepoint to which the jack is to be applied is very often inconvenientlysituated and thus necessitates that-a person must crawl under themachine to properly set the jack. It is the principal object of thisinvention to provide a jack which is so constructed as to allow it to beeasily positioned at any desired remote point and operated withoutinconvenience.

Another object of thls lllYBlltlOIldS to provide a jack which willaccomplish the above purpose and which will hold itself rigidly at theend of the operatin'g handle while being positioned beneath the car,thus allowing it to be accurately set.

Another object of this invention is to provide means whereby theoperating mechanism of the jack may be unlocked after the jack has beenplaced at a remote point and will insure that the lifting bar of theJack will be released to become properly adgusted beneath the object tobe raised without manipulation of the lifting mechanism, and which willalso insure that the jack will be held rigidly against tipping so thatthe handle may be easily moved to actuate the operating mechanisms.

It is a further object ofthis invention to provide a jack of the aboveconstruction and for accomplishing the above named results which issimple in its construction and operation and may be locked in a compactmanner when not In use.

Other objects'will appear hereinafter.

The invention is illustrated. by way of example. in the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure l is a view inside elevation illustrating the jack as havingparts broken away to more easily disclose the operative mechanism withinthe housing of the ack.

Fig. 2 aview in elevation 1llustrating the side of the jack upon whichthe handle is mounted and disclosing the normal closed position of theack in solid lines, as well as an extended position of the lifting barin dotted lines.

Fig, is a fragmentary view in side elevation illustrating the housing ofthe jack and particularly disclosing the manner in which the pawlrelease pin is made accessible.

Fig. l is a view of the telescoping handle used upon the jack, said viewdisclosing the handle as in its extended position.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary view of the foot and lower portion of the jackhousing illustrating in detail the manner in which the lifting bar ofthe jack is locked against upward movement.

Fig. 6 1s a view in transverse section on the line 6-6 of Fig. 0 andillustrates the twoconipartments which extend lengthwise of the jackhousing to receive the lifting through the partition wall between thetwocompartments and substantiallythe length thereof. The opposite wallof the bar compartment is formed with a rectangular opening 15 which issurrounded upon three sides by a pawl housing 16 cast integral with thehousing 10 and extending outwardly therefrom. This pawl housing hasparallel side walls formed as continuations of the side walls of themain housing, and an inclined end wall 17. This wall does not entirelycover the opening 15 in the side of the bar compartment and thus formsan inclined passage-way 18 through which a portion of the operatingmechanism of the jackis mounted.

A socket pivot pin 19 extends across the opening 18 and through the sidewalls of the pawl housing 16. This pivot pin 1s provided as a supportfor a handle socket 520 through an extension 21 of which it passes Thehandle socket is thus disposed directly be- A above the other.

in. Lip

low the opening 18 in the pawl housing and normally stands at aninclination to the vertical and so that it may have a desired range ofmovement upon its pivot 19. The socket proper is formed with acentral"cylindrical opening which extends the length thereof to receiveone end of a handle 2:2. This handle is formed with a shoulder which isbrought to bear against the upper obliquely disposed face of the socketand limits the movement of the handle therethrough. is particularlyshown in Fig. l. the handle is designed to telescope, being formed ofseparate sections reduced in diameter and which may be telescoped onewithin the other. The use of this extensible handle permits the jack tobe easily placed at a desired point heneath the car without requiringthat the operator reach the point at which the jack is to rest.

The handle socket and its handle are provided'to actuate lifting pawls2i and 25 by which a lifting bar 26 is raised. These pawls are pivotallysecured to the socket extension 21 by a pair of pivot pins 27 which aredisposed upon opposite'sides 0f the socket pivot 19 and in alincmenttherewith, said pins being arranged on a line substantially parallel tothe center of the handle and its socket. The pawls are superimposed oneThe lowermost pawl 24.- is short and is adapted to be held against theside of the lifting bar 26 by a leaf spring 28 which is fastened to theunder side of the upper pawl 25. The upper pawl is held against the sameside of the lifting bar and at a point above the lower pawl by a leafspring 29 secured tothe upper side of the pawl and hearing at its outerend against the inclined wall 1? of the pawl housing. These two pawlsare adapted to normally register with serrations 30 formed along theside of the lifting bar. These serrations have square horiz ontal facesand outwardly inclined connecting faces over which the ends of the pawlsmay move to abut against the square faces and carry the weight of thelifting bar. The upper end of the lifting bar is formed with a head 31which provides an enlarged surface adapted to support the object to belifted. The two pawls maybe simultaneously moved from the supportingposition beneath the square faces of the serrations by a release pin 32which is fixed to the side of the lower pawl "2t and extends through anopening 33 in the side of the ho using. liloveinent of this pawl by thepin in the direction of the arrow--a will cause the pawl to bear against:spring 28 and in turn swing the pawl 25 in the direction of the arrow7)- and clear of the side of the lifting bar, thus allowing the bar tobe lowered within its compartment.

A. means is provided i stantly,

raised, said means being actuated by the handle 22 and from a remotepoint. This means comprises an expansion spring i-t positioned withinthe expansion spring compartment 13. This spring, when expanded, extendssubstantially the length of its co npartinent within which it'isretained by an inserted collar 35 which is fastened within the top ofthe compartment. A spring block 36 is provided to seat within the upperend of the spr ng 3i; and has an enlarged flange which holds it inposition over the end of the spring. This block is adapted to bearagainst a lifting bar pin 37 which extends outwardly from the side ofthe lifting bar opposite the serrated side and mid-way the lengththereof. However, when the lifting pawls 2 1 and 25 elevate the liftingbar and itspin 3'? above the maximum expansive length of the spring, thepin will pass up wardly and away from the block 36 and through thecollar 35 at the top of the spring compartment 13. The spring 3t isprovided to permit the lifting bar to be self-adjusting beneath theobject to be raised. Thus, under normal conditions and when the jack isnot in use, the lifting bar is held downwardly in the position shown bysolid lines in Fig. 2 and against the expansive action of the spring 3i.This accomplished by a locking lever 88 mounted at the side of the lionsing upon a pin 39 and at a point below the pawl housing 16. This leverhas a lower arm. 4.0 upon which an inturned extension finger ll isformed. T he finger l1 is adapted to register with a groove L2 formedacross the lowermost serration. The lower lip of the groove i2 is cutaway to provide clearance for the pawl 2iso that the lifting bar may belifted to an extreme position. A lever are l3 forms the upper portion ofthe locking lever 88 and extends upwardly to a point adjacent the end ofthe socket 20. At this point it has a curved face which may be engagedby the end of the handle 22 when the handle is forced through the socketto its seated position. A leaf spring 14 normally holds the arm l3 ofthe lever outwardly and the finger at of the arm e0 inwardly.

In operation, it will be first assumed that the jack has been used andthat its lifting bar extended. it may then be closed by movement of thepin 32 in the direction of the arrow 0 as shown in Fig. 3. This willact-., as previously described, to simul .13

taneously swing the pawls 2 t and out wardly from the side of thelifting bar in the directions indicated upon the two pawls,respectively, by the arrows aand b-. ll hen this has been done, thelifting bar may be forced downwardly against the expansion of the springBl until the end of the bar. strikes the inturned finger ll of thelocking arm a ll hen the bar strikes this finger the pawls are thenreleased and allowed to tee swingin against the serrated side of thelocking bar. 'At this time their ends will fall substantially mid-way thdistance between the two squared shoulders of certain serrations. Thearm 43 of the locking lever 38 is then pressed inwardly to swing the arm40 of the lever and its finger 41 outwardly to permit the lower lip ofgroove 42 to pass the finger, after which the lifting bar is furtherforced in a downwardly direction until the ends of its pawls strike thesquared ends of the serrations with which they were in register. Thelocking lever may then be released and its finger will pass into thegroove 4:2 to prevent upward movement of the lifting bar and at the sametime to lock the pawls'and the handle socket against movement. Thus, itwill be seen that when the jack is folded in its in operative positionall of the parts will be locked against movement and rattle will therebybe eliminated.

lVhen the jack is to be used, the handle is extended and placed looselywithin the socket 20 of the jack. Attention is directed to the fact thatthe handle is not forced into the socket until the shoulder strikes theupper edge of the socket, but part way therethrough so that the end ofthe handle will not forcefully strike the upper end of the locking lever38. It is also to be borne in mind that the entire jack mechanism islocked rigid so that the handle and jack may be manipulated as a-singlemember. The handle is then grasped and the jack placed beneath the carat a desired remote point, the length of the handle permitting this tobe conveniently accomplished. After the jack has been properly located,the handle may be forced into the socket to cause its lower end toforcefully bear against the curved end face of the arm 43 of the lockinglever 38. This will cause the finger 41 of the locking lever to swingoutwardly from engagement with the groove 42 at the bottom of thelifting bar and thereby release the lifting bar so that the spring34'may in stantly lift the bar and cause it to become adjustably heldagainst the rnder face of the object to be lifted. It will then be notedthat the pawls are free to move and as the handle 22 is oscillatedupwardly and downwardly the pawls will successively act to lift the bar.'As the pawls are designed in the present instance, one of them willraise the lifting bar the length of half of one of the serrations whilethe other pawl is lowering to engage a serration' and raise the bar theother half of a serration length. Thus the pawls will cooperate to liftthe bar and rigidly hold it beneath the object lifted. When the objectis to be lowered. the automobile is shoved forwardly or pulled by theengine and will thus ride ofi" of the jack and onto ground. The jack maythen be folded up as previously described and will be ready for anotheroperation.

It will thus be seen hat the jack here shown is comparatively simple inits construction, may be easily placed, held in place, and operated atremote points. beneath an automobile, and will act in a'selfadjustingmanner to position itself beneath the object to be raised after whichthe object may be easily raised.

While-I have shown the preferred construction of my automobile jack asnow known to me, it will be understood that various changes in thecombination, construction and arrangement of parts may e made by thoseskilled in the art without departing from the spirit of my invention asclaimed.

I claim:

1. An automobile jack comprising a housing, a lifting bar, operatingmeans for elevating the lifting bar, a handle whereby the jack may bepositioned andoperated from a remote point, a spring member adapted toraise the lifting bar independent of its operating means and to disposethe head of the bar against the face of the object to be lifted, atrip-member adapted to control and release said spring member, and meanswhereby the handle of the jack may actuate the trip member.

2. An automobile jack comprising a housing, a lifting bar, an operatingmechanism for elevating said lifting 'bar, a socket formed as a part ofsaid mechanism, a handle adapted to be positioned within said socket,spring means for elevating the lifting bar independent of said operatingmeans, and

means whereby movement of the handle.v

. catch lever disposed adjacent the lower end of said socket andprovided to normally-render the spring means inoperative, and meanswhereby the handle will actuate said trip means to release the springmeans when the handle projects through the socket and engages thetrip-lever.

4. An automobile jack comprising a housing, a vertically movable liftingbar positioned therein, operating means for elevating said bar inclosedwithin the housing, a handle socket provided and connected to saidoperating means, a handle adapted to be positioned within said socketwhen the jack is to be operated, a spring by which the bar may beinstantly lifted, a trip-lever adapted to of the handle it passesthrough the end of the socket, and means whereby the operatingmechanism, the lifting bar, the handle socket, and the spring may beheld rigidly when the trip lever is set.

operation of the pavvts and raise the lifting bar, and spring meansreleased by the handle Wherebv the lifting bar ma be automatieallvdisposed beneath the ob ect to be lifted in position to be immediatelyraised.

6. in automobile jack comprising a housing having an enlarged baseportion by which it is supported and having a pair of openings extendingvertically substantiall the length thereof. a lifting bar slidablymounted within one of said openings, a helicalspring positioned in theother opening, a pin upon the lifting bar adapted to normall rest uponthe upper end of the spring. a series of serrations formed along the,opposite side of the lifting bar from the pin, a handle sleevepivotally mounted upon the housing, a pair of pawls pivotally secured tothe handle sleeve and adapted to register be obtained for five each, byaddressing @ommissioner baht- 5523921, 3.

,eaeneo with the serrations upon the lifting bar, a removable handleadapted to be positioned within the sleeve and by which the sleeve maybe oscillated to alternately cause the paivls to lift the bar the lengthof one serration, means for normall v locking the lifting v bar in itslowermost position, and means whereby the movement to insert the handleWithin the handle sleeve will act to release the lifting bar and causeit to be elevated to bring its head to bear against the under face oftne object to be lifted.

T. An automobile ack comprising a base, a lifting bar supported in thebase, a handle,

' )awl and ratchet for oieratin the liftin l a: a:

bar, a spring for compressing the lifting bar against the load, meansfor locking the handle and holding the spring compresed and the liftingbar Withdrawn; so that by manipulating the handle the jack may be placedin position for operation; and means operated by the handle forreleasing the handle and releasing the lifting bar; so that the springwill press the lifting bar against the load and hold the jack inposition while the handle is manipulated to lift the load.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

ELHER A. EVILCGX.

EPaten'ta,

